Tyler Higgins strolled home as champion in the 400 (Colin Boyle photo)
Last year's sprints and hurdles model was pretty cut and dry. It was then junior Josh Eiker of Galesburg ruling the dashes and Lucas Ege from Burlington Central sweeping the hurdles races. Eiker is still here but he has moved upstairs to 3A. Ege on the other hand has taken his talents to Stanford University. Now the questions will be spelled out in big lettering: "WHO IS GOING TO PICK UP THE SPEED CROWN?!"
100m-
2015 State Champion: Josh Eiker 10.57
Outlook: Let's start with a few returning names from last year's state final. We already mentioned that the #1 speedster in all of Illinois Josh Eiker will be competing in 3A this season. The top returner will fall to Mitch West who took fourth place. West also happens to be a standout football player that helped his team win the 6A title. This spring may be show continued success for West who shares the top returning time of 10.80 with Najee Sylvester. Chicago Phillips senior David Munson is also a state champion on the gridiron. Munson did his damage on defensive side of the ball, where he was a ball hawk that shut down Belleville (Althoff Catholic). Now he may be lining up side by side against West in the state final in May for the speed king title. A new face to the fold will be Vincent Gordon. He produced the fastest time on his team last year that happened to be loaded with short sprinters. Instead the Century duties in the state series fell to twins Jafar and Jafa Muhmamad. Gordon ran the 200, 4x1 and 4x2 relays. He will be a factor individually in this event as the third best returner. Adam Nelson is a veteran as is William Fleming. Finally, there is talk of long jump star Ja'mari Ward (Sr., Cahokia) dropping relay duties and concentrating on a sprint or three. Ward is a special athlete who is blessed with amazing speed and certainly someone who should not be counted out. Classification will aid this event as indoor 60m leader Tyrin Thurman (Sr., Chicago Mt. Carmel) is shaping up to have one awesome season.
Top returners in 2016-
| RANK | TIME | WIND | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10.80 | 2017 | |||
| 1 | 10.80 | 2.5 | 2017 | ||
| 3 | 10.81 | 2016 | |||
| 4 | 10.87 | 1.3 | 2016 | ||
| 5 | 10.94 | 2016 | |||
| 6 | 10.95 | 2017 | |||
| 7 | 10.98 | 2016 | |||
| 8 | 10.99 | 2016 | |||
| 9 | 11.00 | 2.5 | 2016 |
400m-
2015 State Champion: Tyler Higgins (Highland) 48.29
Outlook: Despite seven all-staters returning, this event may see a few shake-ups along the way in 2016. Several top notched long sprinters have moved to different classifications. Josh Eiker has been talking of attempting a triple crown. He will have to do in 3A. Aaron Harris placed third in 1A last year for Lisle. His team has moved up here. Harris will be an impact threat to anyone thinking of hoisting the #1 spot. His 48.70 is rated #2 among returners and quite an underrated mark. The truth is he is beginning to love track and just scratching the surface of his true talent. It doesn't help that he has trained and raced for the Aurora Flyers in the off-season. Yes, the Aurora Flyers led by the legendary Thomas Boatright. Cahokia had two finalists last year Chris Stanley and Tyran Lyons. They return back as does Ja'mari Ward. Why Ward? Although Ward does not officially have a 400m mark on his resume, he is perhaps the top 400m runner in Illinois if you count relay splits. Ward has clocked 46.4 on several occasions in the anchor spot. That time is a concern among the returners, event though it was performed with a running start. Such a feat gives him a huge advantage over anyone in the returning class. Coach Leroy Millsap indicated that his prized pupil is going to run a few 400s this season. The fans will welcome that for sure. Of course let's not disrespect the defending champion Tyler Higgins. He won all but two of his races last season, and he grabbed the title with ease and will be looking to go into the 47s this spring. With short speed (10.95/22.17) he is going to make anyone trying to take his title earn it in a very hard way.
Top returners in 2016-
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48.29 | 2017 | ||
| 2 | 48.70 | 2016 | ||
| 3 | 49.67 | 2016 | ||
| 4 | 49.99 | 2016 | ||
| 5 | 50.02 | 2017 | ||
| 6 | 50.29 | 2016 | ||
| 7 | 50.42 | 2016 | ||
| 8 | 50.52 | 2017 |
200m-
2015 State Champion: Josh Eiker (+1.0)
Outlook: For the third time mentioning that Eiker will compete in 3A. He left his mark on the track and a classification meet record. On record the returning field from the state champion looks lean with one runner back in Vincent Gordon. However, the event has already regenerated itself at the time of this publication. Aaron Harris and Gordon have already got acquainted with one another at the U of Arkansas HS Invite with Harris coming out on top 21.81-21.87. Add in newcomers Tayjione Nathan (Sr., Hillcrest) who was also at the high octane Arkansas meet where he clocked a big personal best 22.09. Tyler Higgins and relay all-stater Alexze Whatley should not be counted out. And lastly, don't forget about Ja'mari Ward. Everyone seems to remember his scorching second leg on the all-time best 4x2 relay that smoked the track in 1:25.83.
Top Returners in 2016-
| RANK | TIME | WIND | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21.69 | 2016 | |||
| 2 | 22.17 | 2017 | |||
| 2 | 22.17 | 1.0 | 2016 | ||
| 4 | 22.25 | 2017 | |||
| 5 | 22.28 | 2016 | |||
| 6 | 22.31 | 2016 | |||
| 7 | 22.36 | 2017 | |||
| 8 | 22.38 | 1.0 | 2016 | ||
| 9 | 22.40 | 1.4 | 2016 |